Dedicating Days

One of the things I love about our faith is that nothing is left to be forgotten.  In the whole world of petititions, prayers, and devotions -- and there are literally millions -- you'd think it'd be easier than not for a sincere-but-struggling soul to be overwhelmed by the sheer volume.  Like a housewife with so many chores to do and so many children to worry about that in a paralysis of indecision, she sits down to surf the web instead of picking out that first job to do. (ahem. Not like I'd know about that...)

 But, never fear!  The Church, in two thousand years of wisdom and practicality has provided a starting point for the indecisive; within the ever-living calendar of tradition, which provides us with the log of the saints and the rythm of the Liturgical year, we also have laid out for us a special devotion for each day of the week. If nothing else, these can serve as a starting point for our days. 

 Most Cathoics know about Mary's Saturdays and it's instinctual to devote our Fridays to Christ's Passion and our Sundays to the Resurrection, but did you know that Tuesdays are set aside for the angels and Wednesdays belong to St. Joseph?   Here's the entire list:

Sunday
Resurrection & the Holy and Undivided Trinity
Glorious Mysteries of the Rosary

Monday

The Holy Ghost & the Souls in Purgatory

Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary

Tuesday
The Holy Angels
 (Tuesdays are also the day for honoring the Holy Face
 and, unofficially, honoring St. Anthony of Padua
and A special Novena to St. Martha is also made on
 9 consecutive Tuesdays or on all Tuesdays )
Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary

Wednesday

St. Joseph
(Catholics can make a special devotion to St. Joseph
 by going to Mass on the first Wednesdays of 9
 consecutive months and offering their Communions
in his honor and for the salvation of the dying)
Glorious Mysteries of the Rosary

Thursday
The Blessed Sacrament, Priests
(This is the day for a "Holy Hour," spent in adoration
 of the Blessed Sacrament as an aspect
 of devotion to the Sacred Heart)
Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary

Friday
Christ's Passion and His Sacred Heart
("First Fridays Devotion" in honor of the
 Sacred Heart)

Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary

Saturday
The Blessed Virgin and her Immaculate Heart
("First Saturday Devotions" in honor of
the Immaculate Heart)
Glorious Mysteries of the Rosary



* Today, then is dedicated to the Blessed Sacrament and to our priests!  We can never be too grateful for our representatives of Christ here on earth, and never too solicitous for them in our pleas to Heaven.  Here are a few beautiful prayers for the help and protection of all priests.


St. Thérèse's Prayers for Priests


St. Therese was devoted in her prayer for priests.

1. 0 Holy Father, may the torrents of love flowing from the sacred wounds of your divine Son bring forth priests like unto the beloved disciple John who stood at the foot of the cross; priests, who as a pledge of your own most tender love will lovingly give your divine Son to the souls of men.

May your priests be faithful guardians of your Church, as John was of Mary, whom he received into his house. Taught by this loving Mother who suffered so much on Calvary, may they display a mother's care and thoughtfulness towards your children. May they teach souls to enter into close union with you through Mary who, as the Gate of Heaven, is specially the guardian of the treasures of your divine Heart.

Give us priests who are on fire, and who are true children of Mary, priests who will give Jesus to souls with the same tenderness and care with which Mary carried the Little Child of Bethlehem.

Mother of sorrows and of love, out of compassion for your beloved Son, open in our hearts deep wells of love, so that we may console Him and give Him a generation of priests formed in your school and having all the tender thoughtfulness of your own spotless love.'


2.
O Jesus,
I pray for your faithful and fervent priests;
for your unfaithful and tepid priests;

for your priests laboring at home or abroad in distant mission fields.
for your tempted priests;
for your lonely and desolate priests;
For your young priests;
for your dying priests;
for the souls of your priests in Purgatory.
But above all, I recommend to you the priests dearest to me:
the priest who baptized me;
the priests who absolved me from my sins;
the priests at whose Masses I assisted and who gave me Your Body and Blood in Holy Communion;
the priests who taught and instructed me;
all the priests to whom I am indebted in any other way
(especially …).
O Jesus, keep them all close to your heart,
and bless them abundantly in time and in eternity.

3.
O Jesus, eternal Priest,
keep your priests within the shelter of Your Sacred Heart,

where none may touch them.
Keep unstained their anointed hands,
which daily touch Your Sacred Body.
Keep unsullied their lips,
daily purpled with your Precious Blood.
Keep pure and unearthly their hearts,
sealed with the sublime mark of the priesthood.
Let Your holy love surround them and
shield them from the world’s contagion.
Bless their labors with abundant fruit and
may the souls to whom they minister be their joy and consolation
here and in heaven their beautiful and everlasting crown. Amen.


THURSDAY CONSECRATION PRAYER

O my Beloved Jesus,

I give and consecrate to Thee this Thursday and all the Thursdays of my life, in praise of the adorable Mystery of Thy Body and Blood, and in thanksgiving for that of the Priesthood.
Moved by Thy Holy Spirit, and full of confidence in the help of Thy Most Holy Mother, the Virgin Mary, Mother of Priests, I resolve to live each Thursday for the rest of my days here below in adoration and in reparation for priests and, especially, for those who do not adore Thee, for those who are most wounded in their souls, and for those who are exposed to the attacks of the powers of darkness. I want to remain before Thy Eucharistic Face for them and in their place; I want to draw near, in their name, to Thy open Heart, ever-flowing with the Blood and the Water that purify, heal, and sanctify all souls, but, first of all, those of Thy priests.

Let each Thursday find me close to the Sacrament of Thy Body and Blood, in adoration and reparation for the sake of all Thy priests. Make me an entirely Eucharistic soul, according to the desires of Thy Sacred Heart and the designs of Thy merciful goodness upon my life. I desire nothing else. I want to love Thee more each day; I want to be the faithful adorer of Thy Eucharistic Face and the consoling friend of Thy Sacred Heart hidden in the tabernacles of the world, where it beats, wounded by love, forgotten, forsaken, and waiting for the adoration and for the love of even one priest.

Amen.